Post by A Guy Named Goo on Jan 18, 2007 10:46:42 GMT -5

When I got Molly, I got her starter collection that came with her meet accessories. I am not sure how different these are from her Pre-Mattel ones, since ther aren't any reviews of them, so I am just going to stick with what I know here.

Once again, I ask that folks ignore my various vices scattered on my table and keep their eyes on the accessories (someday I'll have enough common sense to clear off that table before I take pics on it...). Molly's accessories include, in no particular order, her navy beret, her red bag, her handkerchief with her name embroidered on it, a reproduction 1943 steel penny, and her locket.

Here is the beret. Depending on your monitor's resolution, this is actually a very accurate picture of the color. It's a little bit lighter than the wool skirt that Molly is wearing in her meet outfit, but still matches the sweater and skirt very well. It's made out what feels to be either a dense felt or a light wool (note: I'm allergic to wool, which contributes to me not handling Molly as often as I would like to. I have a rash on my hand and wrist from taking pictures of her for the reviews. So if you ever wondered if it's real wool, it is).

Here is the underside of the beret. I find the hole is not as conductive to pulling the beret down over the top of her head as the images in the catalogue and on the site would have you believe. It might just be my copy of the beret, though. I don't mind because I don't put it on her that way, though.

This is Molly's red bag. The main portion of it is red patent pseudo-leather (definitely not real), and the snap really does snap open and closed. The strap, however, is made out of that cheap velvet-substance covered plastic, which makes for a rather unpleasant tactile sensation.

The side of the bag. The coloring is from my flash. It's really just red. You can see a little bit of the different in materials here, as well as the silver studs that join the strap with the main portion of the bag.

The front side of the steel penny. It really does say "1943" on it and has Abe Lincoln, just like the real deal. Wonder if AG has ever been caught for making counterfeit money. ^_~

The backside of the penny, which has the year again and says "ONE CENT", and has a couple of branches on the bottom (if you've seen a real penny from the '40s, you know what I'm talking about).

The steel penny next to a real current penny (1983 is the date on the other penny, if you're remotely curious). As you can see, the steel penny is too big to be doll-sized, but is smaller than human-sized. I am not sure if the steel pennies really were smaller than the copper ones, but I was under the impression that during the war they used the same striking plates to make the pennies, just different materials. This would probably be how AG avoids being accused of counterfeiting. ^_~

Molly's handkerchief. It comes in the box tucked into the bag, which explains the shape. You can see Molly's name embroidered on it, and it also has a red design around the edges that didn't show up thanks to my flash (but nothing showed up with the flash off. I just couldn't win). I tend to leave it in this shape (hence no folding it out for you. If you ask, I'll unfold it to show you the full size and shape) because I like how it fits peeking out of the bag.

Molly's locket. There's a design on it that I couldn't, for the life of me, get a picture of, but it's a tiny heart and some flowers. This is the main reason to get her accessories, since her locket is such an important part of her story.

The clasp on the locket is sort of weird. It reminds me of a caribbeaner almost. You press the loop into it and it locks into place. For some reason, it bothers me, though. No clue why, since I never see the clasp as I never take the locket off (except for these pics), but I am sorely tempted to use my jewelry making kit to put a real clasp on it.

The locket really does open! Inside I have put the picture of Dr. McIntire, although it's very hard to see (it's even hard to see or make out in person). When you get the locket, it comes attached to a card which has this picture to cut out at the bottom of it. I ended up having to cut it much smaller than they suggest to make it fit into the locket.

Molly with all of her accessories. As you can see, I kind of put the beret on at an angle instead of pulling it down over her head.

So for my grades, I give:

Beret - A B. maybe a little more if you like hats, but I tend to not to. I only put on Molly's for the sake of completion. If it really is wool, I may end up stashing it so I don't also get a rash when I play with her hair.

Bag - I would have liked this better if the strap were also made of the same patent material as the bag itself. However, it's still pretty cute, and actually holds stuff, so an A-.

Penny - I'm pretty "meh" about this, really. I would like it more if it were doll-sized, but I can see where that would be a problem. It's neat just to see what pennies were like back then, I guess. So for that, a B.

Handkerchief - This is really pretty adorable, especially with the font they use for Molly's name. I like this thing quite a bit, and the way it peeks out of the bag to show her name just like in the catalogue amuses me to no end. A-.

Locket - The picture is kind of a letdown, but the locket itself is very lovely and detailed, and such an important part of her story. I love jewelry for dolls, and I mainly got her accessories for this, so I give this an A+.

Overall Score for Molly's Accessories - B+. A lot of cute things there, but the locket's really the only thing I think any Molly collector really needs.

Post by Tiff02 on Dec 16, 2007 13:11:40 GMT -5

agngoo said:

Here is the underside of the beret. I find the hole is not as conductive to pulling the beret down over the top of her head as the images in the catalogue and on the site would have you believe. It might just be my copy of the beret, though. I don't mind because I don't put it on her that way, though.

Post by Natasha on Dec 16, 2007 14:42:29 GMT -5

I'm not Goo, but I don't think it does.

We have two of these, one tagged PC and one tagged AG. The PC one has elastic (though it's a bit loose on ours) and is made of a thinner material (I want to say, maybe about the weight of the material Samantha's plaid cape is made from, or maybe thinner). The one in the pictures looks like the newer one we have, which, yeah, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get on Molly's head!

One other thing about the PC hat is that the little thingy on top is a bit different. I think it's a loop? Our PC set didn't come with the locket, so I can't say how those vary, but the purse and handkerchiefs are identical as far as I can tell. The only other difference was the coin: the newer set has the reproduction and the older set has a real steel penny. But you probably already knew that!

I'll try to get some pictures of the two together. Molly is for my daughter for Christmas, and seeing as how I can't get the newer beret on her head, I'm thinking it would be impossible for her, so she's getting the older one and it's already wrapped.

Post by Tiff02 on Dec 17, 2007 3:29:30 GMT -5

merelygod said:

I'm not Goo, but I don't think it does.

The one in the pictures looks like the newer one we have, which, yeah, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get on Molly's head!

Thanks Natasha. It looks like it doesn't have elastic. I just wanted to know if I was seeing right. I got Molly & her accessories Christmas of '95. Mine has elastic so I was just curious. I can't believe they don't make it with elastic anymore. I could only imagine how much of a pain it must be trying to get that thing on her head without elastic.

Post by valuemeal2 on Feb 4, 2009 1:38:12 GMT -5

I don't think there's elastic in my beret, but I have no problems getting it to stay on:

It just takes a little while.

Also, my locket did NOT come with the picture of Dr. McIntire. WTF? Not cool. (I bought one with a picture off a board member, and it was an older one with a different clasp that I don't like as much.)

Post by PleasantMemories on Jan 3, 2010 1:31:25 GMT -5

Unfortunately, the picture card for Molly’s locket is no longer included with the set. It was removed from the set a year or two ago. I can’t quite understand the reasoning. It seems like the difference in production cost would be very minimal.

Post by AGmom2AlliTori on Jan 23, 2010 22:17:11 GMT -5

I don't have much of anything to add that hasn't already been said... except:Our accessories were purchased from AG at the end of 2008, and Molly's beret does not have elastic in it, however, there is a slight "give" to the fabric, and it fits our Molly's head perfectly.

Post by oceandream on May 14, 2011 20:54:11 GMT -5

So, I have a few questions for the wonderfully knowledgeable members of the board please. I recently adopted an absolutely beautiful PM Molly. I have had wonderful luck thanks to a couple of board members tracking down most of her PC accessories. I just need her locket.

What are the actual differences between the PC and Mattel lockets? I've noticed most of the lockets sold on eBay, be it PC or Mattel, do not have the picture of her father to put in the locket. If you had the chance to purchase a PC locket without the picture, would you buy it and hope to eventually get the picture at a later time?

Post by tinroofschoolhouse on May 15, 2011 6:26:06 GMT -5

My understanding has always been that the only difference between the PM and Mattel locket is the way it was packaged (as mentioned, with the photo of Molly's father to cut out no longer being available on the Mattel packaging). Please correct me if I'm wrong! I've only seen the Mattel locket in person, so I haven't been able to compare the two up-close.

Post by valuemeal2 on May 15, 2011 11:49:22 GMT -5

I have one of each (pm and Mattel). The Mattel one didn't even come with a picture to cut out, which is why I bought the pm one off a board member with the picture glued inside. The pm one has a fishhook clasp that doesn't stay closed very well, and the Mattel one has a more secure clasp that I like better. Otherwise they are essentially identical. My mini me wears the Mattel one, I'm planning on photoshopping a dolly version of my boyfriend to glue in it.

Post by beadoll on Feb 22, 2013 10:17:40 GMT -5

Beret: The beret is a nice size and appears to be made out of the same woolen material as Molly's skirt,if maybe a little lighter. I was concerned at first when I couldn't stretch the opening and put it over Molly's head AT ALL, but then I thought that maybe it's just not supposed to be worn that way. I had a beret I used to wear when I was younger and it was more the kind of hat you sit on top of your head, not really pull over your head. The opening does at least tend to keep it from sliding around on Molly's head too much when you have it situated just right. It's quite stylish. A

Purse: This little purse is just awesome!It's made of red pleather and has a nice luster to it, and it actually snaps closed as opposed to having a velcro closure. I love its rather large size, I supposed I was expecting something smaller.I don't know why. It is only about an inch smaller in perimeter compared to Molly's schoolbag from her school supplies set. I just tried putting an American Girl mini magazine in the purse and it fits down inside almost perfectly so I imagine it might even fit other mini books inside too; a dolly sized ID card and money, as you could imagine, would be a cinch to fit in. I plan to use the pattern for Molly's purse on the AG Playthings main website to make one for Emily since her Meet accessories don't have a purse. A+

Hankie: Awwww,how cute is this little handkerchief? I just love monogrammed or embroidered hankies. I haven't quite figured out how to make it hangout of the purse yet but I will. It appears to be a decent size for American Girl hands. A+

Reproduction penny: Very cool. I have an actual penny that dates back to 1944 and it has the details perfectly copied, down to the wheat stalks and "ONE CENT" printed on the back. The wheat stalks were what caused these pennies to often be called wheat pennies. A+

Locket: At first I thought the locket part of the necklace would be a little bit bigger; I compared it to a locket I have from another doll line (more specifically Elsie's locket, from the Life of Faith line). Thinking about it though, Molly's locket was scaled to be a smaller version of the lockets a young girl would typically wear today; most lockets from the 1840s were quite a bit larger and so for that locket, an actual girl's sized locket from today was put on a shorter chain, at least I'm sure. I was disappointed that Molly's locket no longer comes with her dad's picture to paste in, but as a piece of doll jewelry it's very pretty. The clasp is easy to open and close. A

Post by starwenn on Aug 27, 2013 20:05:02 GMT -5

Although my stepsister's Molly came with a beret, she was missing all of her other accessories, and the beret was stretched out. I just ordered a new set direct from AG. While not the flashiest accessories set, this is one of the cutest and most versatile. I love how big and red Molly's bag is. It's roomy and sturdy and could probably hold several of her smaller items, like the newspaper from her camp set. (It also has a normal vinyl strap - no velvet on plastic as Goo described, thank goodness.)

I'm not a coin expert, but the penny seems to be a pretty good reproduction. The handkerchief is just adorable. I love that it looks like Molly embroidered it herself. The locket has a fairly long chain, and I had no trouble with the simple clasp. Like all recent versions of the locket, it didn't come with a picture of her dad.

The beret hasn't changed much over the years. It's exactly the same as my stepsister's PM beret, right down to the wool fabric used. Both berets do fit on Molly's head with some pulling.

So yes, I highly recommend this for Molly owners, if only for the beret, bag, and locket. These pieces are simple enough to work with many modern dolls as well.